Retaining Up with the Information

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We are actually within the third week of conventional Introduction and the fifth of Celtic Introduction, each of which in my thoughts, deal with peace, not the peace that’s created by way of battle and suppression of people who look, assume or worship otherwise from us, however the peace that comes by way of nonviolence, love and justice for all, a peace all of us lengthy for in in the present day’s world of upheaval and violence.

All week I’ve been meditating on this type of peace and what it meant for Mary and Elizabeth and now means for us. In her fantastic e-book The First Introduction in Palestine, Kelley Nikondeha, talks about Mary and Elizabeth “gestating God’s peace”, which reversed the unjust order. Talking of Mary singing the Magnificat, she says: Mary sings out a brand new social order that upends the established order as introduction begins to show tables on those that profit from the injustice of empires and their economies – lengthy earlier than her personal son would himself overturn tables, enacting protest within the temple…. Collectively, Elizabeth and Mary, the moms of introduction, formed the infrastructure of peace. Their our bodies, metaphors throughout the songs they sang, spoke about newness God was birthing into the world.” (68,69).

God is birthing newness, not simply within the start of Christ however within the start of all of us who lengthy for and act for peace. Within the Mennonite service we attend, earlier than the passing of the peace we gentle a peace lamp and say “we lengthy for a simply peace, we pray for a simply peace, we select to dwell for a simply peace.” It’s a difficult saying and one which I battle with every day as I ponder what extra I needs to be doing to work in the direction of a simply peace. It’s exhausting for me as I bake my Christmas shortbread, and different Christmas goodies to actually take it in. How do you reside out God’s simply peace in your life and what new commitments would possibly God be asking of you this Introduction?

These of you who go to godspacelight.com have in all probability realized that my transition to substack is now full and I’m not longer posting my Meditation Monday on the weblog. I encourage these of you who’re studying this on godspacelight.com to affix me on substack and subscribe to my feed. At this level I submit 3 occasions per week and most of it’s free to entry.  The web site continues to be energetic as many wish to entry the useful resource lists we offer. Nonetheless we’re nonetheless struggling to re-establish the hyperlinks that had been damaged in our web site crash six months in the past. It’s a by no means ending job as each weblog submit wherein I’ve referenced different weblog posts, which I typically do particularly in our useful resource lists, has damaged hyperlinks in it. As a normal rule – while you come throughout a damaged hyperlink like this https://godspacelight.com/2017/07/27/celtic-hospitality-and-welcome/ It must be modified to https://godspacelight.com/celtic-hospitality-and-welcome/. In different phrases, take away the date and you can see the hyperlink.

Lilly Lewin and different members of the godspacelight writing neighborhood will proceed to submit their Introduction reflections till the tip of the yr. A number of have already joined me on substack and I’m encouraging others to do the identical.

Having mentioned all that, godspacelight has been fairly energetic this week. Lilly Lewin is in England once more and never posting, nevertheless my husband Tom Sine posted a brief Christmas letter, and Carol Dixon in Rememberings   posted a lovely couple of poems trying again at All Saints Day.

I respect the suggestions I get on Celtic Introduction Following An Unfamiliar Path, and am overwhelmed by how enthusiastic individuals are in regards to the e-book. A number of individuals have advised me that as they’ve solely simply found it, they plan to make use of it through the season of Epiphany as a substitute. I feel it might make an awesome e-book for different seasons of the yr. You simply must ignore the dates! And please go away a assessment on Amazon, it’s that which can assist individuals proceed to seek out it.

Listed here are a number of posts that you simply would possibly discover helpful as we head towards the third week of Introduction.

An Introduction Prayer by Walter Brueggemann;

An Introduction Prayer by Jan Richardson

Ready – Introduction poems by Jeannie Kendall – Obtain

An Introduction Poem by Mary Oliver;

Introduction Oratorio by Paul Spicer and N.T. Wright

In closing let me share considered one of my favorite Introduction prayers that I wrote a number of years in the past

Make room,
Let Christ be born,
Within the quiet and innermost areas
Of your coronary heart.
Make room.
Let Christ be born,
Within the streets and within the rubble,
Within the famines and the plagues,
And within the wars.
Make room.
Let Christ be born,
Not far-off in distant ages,
However in each coronary heart and place,
The place love and religion are discovered.
Make room.
Let Christ be born,
And discover in us his Bethlehem.

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